American Airlines MasterCard - Is this offer a good deal?

[Marionnette]

Or should I hold out for a better one? This one came in the mail today.

Offer details:

• 40K Bonus Miles for $3K spend in first 3 months.
• Additional 10K Miles for spending a total of $5K in the first 12 months (so, another 2K spend in the next 9 months)
• $95 annual fee waived the first year.

So, is this a good offer or just a run-of-the-mill standard AA Citibank bonus that I could get anytime?

 

[dina444444]

Or should I hold out for a better one? This one came in the mail today.

Offer details:

• 40K Bonus Miles for $3K spend in first 3 months.
• Additional 10K Miles for spending a total of $5K in the first 12 months (so, another 2K spend in the next 9 months)
• $95 annual fee waived the first year.

So, is this a good offer or just a run-of-the-mill standard AA Citibank bonus that I could get anytime?

I would wait and see if you get a 50k miles offer for $3k in 3 months. That's the bonus deal I got around this time last year when I signed up for my card.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Around Nov/Dec 2015 we (DH and I) received a 60,000 offer with the $3k spend in 3 months. We had received quite a few and I guess this was the last ditch effort. It worked as we are saving up for flights to Europe hopefully for our Med cruise in 2017. DH also received the offer for 0% APR for the first 12 mos where I did not. The points being credited worked smoothly.

Heather

 

[Eighty8Keys]

I would wait and see if you get a 50k miles offer for $3k in 3 months. That's the bonus deal I got around this time last year when I signed up for my card.

This is the deal that I got in February when I signed up for the card. Prepaid as many things as I could to make the $3K spend before my statement close date in mid-March. The 50K bonus miles were deposited to my AA account within three days of the closing date. We immediately used the miles for two first class tickets from MCO to PDX for our January 2017 trip. $641 seats for $5.60 each. Plus, it comes with a 10% redemption bonus, so 10K miles were redeposited back into my account after the ticket purchase.

 

[starry_solo]

Hmm, maybe I should get one. It would help with getting tickets from ONT to ORD this year. Or maybe from ONT to MCO next year.

If it works as a year from when you first get the card, I should probably wait until late May or early June to get the card (if there's a 50K mile bonus). I assume first class tickets cost more miles, so maybe we could get 2 sets of 2 round trip tickets?

 

[dina444444]

Hmm, maybe I should get one. It would help with getting tickets from ONT to ORD this year. Or maybe from ONT to MCO next year.

If it works as a year from when you first get the card, I should probably wait until late May or early June to get the card (if there's a 50K mile bonus). I assume first class tickets cost more miles, so maybe we could get 2 sets of 2 round trip tickets?

The number of miles vary based on length of flight, availability, day of the week, and time of the year as well as domestic vs international. You can play around with the fight booking window on their site and click redeem miles to see how many you would need.

 

[Albort]

im not if this is the same card you were interested in but they are all 50k.

https://creditcards.citicards.com/u...t/Self-Mail/50K/default.htm?promocode=travel5
https://creditcards.citicards.com/u...t/Self-Mail/50K/default.htm?promocode=travel6
https://creditcards.citicards.com/usc/Travel/AA/2016/March/Plat/ACS/50K/default.htm?promocode=miles6

in case if one fails... :] Alternatively, u can apply for what u have, then SM them to 50k when u complete ur 3k.

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you, everyone! I knew that if I posted here, people would know the answer!

I applied for one of the better offers and was approved. Now, I need to meet the $3K spend. I was considering a few grocery GCs and some Visa Vanilla cards over the next few months. I think that I can meet the $3K that way but I'm open to other suggestions.

 

[Albort]

Thank you, everyone! I knew that if I posted here, people would know the answer!

I applied for one of the better offers and was approved. Now, I need to meet the $3K spend. I was considering a few grocery GCs and some Visa Vanilla cards over the next few months. I think that I can meet the $3K that way but I'm open to other suggestions.

throw everything at it... your bills, your daily stuff... if you cant make the minimum, than grocery GCs/ Visa Vanilla card is your 2ndary... but make sure u test those out as now many places dont allow gift card purchases with credit cards...
If you absolutely need to make minimum, theres also sites like Plastiq that will charge 2.xx% and u can pay your rent with it. Alternatively, Gyft.com, cashcard.com all will take credit cards via paypal or direct if your gc purchases from grocery store isnt an option.

Good luck and happy churning! :]

 

[manning]

What I have noticed the required miles for flights have gone up. In other words they are being devalued.

 

[dina444444]

What I have noticed the required miles for flights have gone up. In other words they are being devalued.

It's variable, for example on the anytime coach awards on cross country fights it varies between 20k and 30k depending on season and day of the week. The saver awards are still at the same value but there are less of them available compared to anytime awards as there has always been.